Limagrain UK Limited

Phoma stem canker, caused by the fungal pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans, is a damaging disease on oilseed rape in the UK, causing annual yield losses > £100M despite use of fungicides. With recent loss of the most effective fungicides through EU legislation and predicted global warming, potential yield losses will increase. Use of host resistance to contr...

Oilseed rape is the UK’s third largest crop. As well as being edible, rapeseed oil is used extensively in biodiesel. There is potential for higher-value industrial uses, for example in applications such as lubricants and hydraulic fluids, to which it brings advantages of low toxicity and biodegradability. However, rapeseed oil is thermally unstable, due t...

The project is a collaboration, led by Environment Systems Ltd, with Leeds University Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science (ICAS) and Limagrain Ltd. The intention is to carry out a feasibility study addressing the potential for developing a tool, using meteorological data, along with other environmental datasets, to be used by crop breeders for p...

UK production of salmon, pigs and poultry is over-reliant on imported soy protein which has significant sustainability and supply concerns. Using air classification (AC) of UK grown faba beans we will develop two new products to partially replace imported soy. AC is a simple, low cost process requiring no addition of water, solvents or heating and will be...

The project aims to develop a methodology to identify sequence-based markers that are predictive of crop performance and that can be used to make crop breeding faster and more efficient. To underpin marker-assisted breeding and realize this potential in hybrid rape, molecular markers predictive of hybrid performance are required. High throughput sequencin...

Molecular Improvement of Disease Resistance in Barley (MIDRIB) describes the development and application of novel Genomic Selection technology for breeding new varieties. The primary aim is to develop new competitive varieties for the UK, with increased polygenic disease resistance, which will allow reductions in pesticide applications. The approach will ...

Take-all is one of the most important fungal diseases of UK winter wheat, with up to half the crop being affected with losses costing farmers up to £60m per annum. The disease causes root system damage, resulting in reduced water and nitrogen uptake, which impacts on both yield and quality. Current control measures are not 100% effective and include cultu...

There is a close link between the rotational intensity of OSR, reduced yield and the presence of novel pathogens. Results clearly demonstrate Koch’s postulates for both Olpidium brassicae and Pyrenochaeta sp, and the impact of Pyrenochaeta sp on growth of oilseed rape. This project brings together novel molecular pathogen detection methodology with indust...